


Be Happy, Even If It Has To Be Without Me

by syriala



Category: Original Work
Genre: Friends to Lovers, Happy Ending, M/M, Magic, Misunderstandings, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-02
Updated: 2014-05-02
Packaged: 2018-01-21 15:38:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,766
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1555490
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/syriala/pseuds/syriala
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lion and Shane were best friends. Until Shane realized that he felt more for his friend than he was supposed to and he decides to do something rash. But was it his best idea to create a girlfriend for Shane?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Be Happy, Even If It Has To Be Without Me

**Author's Note:**

> So this started out as a goodnight story for my friend and somehow it got out of hand. She liked it and I hope you do too. Enjoy.

They were best friends. 

Since they met in the 11th grade they were inseparable. They sat next to each other in all the classes they had together and they spend nearly all their free time together.

And Lion liked it that way. They were in the 13th grade now and Lion had realized a while ago that he was in love with Shane.

It had started slowly. First he couldn’t find a girl he liked. Of course he thought some of the girls were beautiful but that was just an observation. He didn’t like any of those girls. Not in that way. Then he started to compare all the girls that were hitting on him with Shane. And that were quite a lot since he wasn’t bad looking and good in sports. Shane got more than enough girls around him himself and Lion also compared them to Shane. 

After that it was just a short step until he couldn’t look at him without feeling his heart ache. That was when Lion knew for sure that he had fallen in love with Shane. 

He also knew that Shane did not feel the same for him. Shane didn’t have a girlfriend but Lion was pretty sure that he had someone he liked. And who wasn’t Lion.

 

Someday when they were having a free period, he gathered up all his courage and asked Shane. He looked surprised because normally they didn’t talk about things like this. 

“I don’t like any of these girls here. Besides what would you do if I was always busy?” he said. 

Encouraged by that answer, Lion kept asking. “How should the girl you like be?” Shane thought about that for a moment and then started listing all the things he thought the perfect girl should have. 

Lion grew more and more quiet as Shane grew more and more excited. Lion had known that it would hurt him. Especially since the girl Shane imagined and described was as far away from how Lion was as possible. 

Even though Lion was distracted by the sharp pain he felt in his chest he memorized everything Shane said. After that he compared every girl in school with what Shane had told him but it was obvious that none of them met the expectations Shane had. 

 

Lion started to develop a plan. He did a lot of research and finally he found what he was looking for. He needed another three days until he had all the ingredients but finally he was ready. 

Nearly everyone could do magic but no one talked about it. It was common but no one wanted to explain what exactly they were doing. But the magic he would work fell under the restricted bloodmagic since it demanded a sacrifice. Lion didn’t like the thought of sacrificing an innocent person for his own wish so he chose to do it himself. All he wanted was to make Shane happy and if his spell worked he would be more than happy to vanish. 

He wasn’t sure how exactly the sacrifice would work but he had to use his hair so he was pretty sure that no one else would get hurt. He was certain of that. 

He decided to do it at the weekend so he still hat three days left. He enjoyed them as much as possible and tried to behave normal so Shane wouldn’t notice that something was off. 

But of course he did. “Lion”, he said on Friday, “what is wrong?” 

“What? Nothing is wrong. What are you talking about?” 

Shane shot him a suspicious look which made Lion’s heart race. “You behave odd. Like you would go away or something.” 

Lion was shocked. Shane was so damn sharp. “Why would you say that”, Lion asked to avoid the question. 

Shane shrugged. “I just know you. And you’re definitely up to something.” 

Lion wanted to deny that but Shane grabbed his arm. “Don’t make me miss you, ok?” It was an odd thing to say but Lion could answer to this truthfully. 

“I won’t, don’t worry. Everything will be alright.” 

And that was not a lie because if everything went like Lion planned Shane wouldn’t even remember him. No one to remember, no one to miss. It was simple like that. Shane shot him another long look but he let the topic go, much to Lion’s relieve.

Originally Lion had planned to do it on Sunday but after Shane’s questions he felt the need to hurry, so he started right after school. He wrote down all the aspects Shane had mentioned of his perfect girl and added some of his hair. He prepared all the other ingredients and then he started reading the spell. He burned the list and the hair at the right moment and then it was done. 

A wind came, the candles were blown out and a voice said: “Accepted.” 

Lion felt how it immediately started to work. It was like something was sucked out of him. 

He went to bed happy but also a bit scared. He was still there. He did not vanish. So what if Shane would find out on Monday? Lion worried so much that he didn’t get any sleep that night. 

During the weekend he often had the feeling that something was sucked out of him. On Sunday he sat down and did a bit more research since he had the feeling something went wrong. But he found nothing which was to be expected since normally the person who casted the spell disappeared. So all Lion could do was worry and hope. 

On Monday the teacher introduced a new student to them. Her name was Malina and Shane immediately took an interest in her. Which was to be expected since Lion was pretty sure she was the person he created. 

So the spell did work, he thought. 

The first clue he got about that was when Shane didn’t stick to him like normal. All Lion got was a rushed “Hi” and then he ran off to talk with others. 

And now Shane was occupied with Malina. She was the spitting image of what Shane had described. At least on the outside. Malina was very still, she did not talk much but Shane did not seem to mind. 

The rest of the day Malina got all of Shane’s attention and Lion felt a constant pain in his chest. It was only then that he realized how painful it would be to watch how the boy he loved fell in love with another person.

Lion feared that it would soon become unbearable for him and he hoped that he would disappear soon. 

 

During the week Shane kept talking to Malina and since his focus was only on her he didn’t notice that in the same rate Malina got more ‘plastic’ and lively Lion grew more quiet and started to fade away. Shane had completely stopped talking to him at Wednesday and in Lion’s opinion he couldn’t vanish fast enough. 

He had watched how the relationship between the two developed and it just hurt so much. He always tried to remind himself that this was for Shane’s happiness but if your own heart breaks it is hard to convince yourself that you did the right thing. 

Lion had to suffer the whole week since the vanishing process wasn’t fast enough. It was a very slow process. He became paler and paler and at some point no one noticed him anymore, not only Shane, but also all other students and the teachers. But he was still there. At some point even his family started to forget him. It was like he never existed. It was not like he was a ghost, because he could still touch things and he couldn’t go through walls (he tried) it was just that no one noticed him anymore. 

Like he was invisible.

He had tried to talk to his family but they did not hear him so he stopped. He hadn’t imagined it to be like this. He didn’t want to stay and watch Shane and Malina be happy. Sure he had wanted this but he couldn’t watch them. It hurt too much. 

 

So he welcomed the weekend because he got to bury himself in his bed. But he became agitated and restless and it stopped only when he saw Shane again on Monday. 

Damn it. This was so not what he had expected. But hey, after all it was bloodmagic and therefore there hat do be a catch. 

He tried again to stay away from Shane but after three days it got so bad that Lion just had to go back to school. Since he had nothing else to do he just stuck to Shane. He followed him around at school and since there was nothing else to do or nowhere to go to he also followed him home. 

This afternoon Malina came over. So it seemed to go very well between these two. Somehow he felt like an intruder but he was way beyond caring. 

And besides, Shane would never know that he spied on him. He stayed with him but whenever Malina was near he stayed so far away that he couldn’t hear a word. It hurt enough to just see them happy together he didn’t need to hear how Shane told her how much he loved her. 

 

He spent several weeks like this and everything seemed to go just fine. Lion noticed that he still got paler until he himself could barely see his hand anymore. So it seemed like eventually he would actually vanish. 

Finally Lion found out that he could turn off different sensations. He started with his hot-cold-feeling because the weather changed and he wasn’t able to pick any other clothes. He tried to shut down pain, too, so he could stay away from Shane but that did not work. 

So he tried his hearing and that worked just fine. 

Lion sat in Shane’s room and watched how he tried to do his math homework. Lion couldn’t help himself, halfway through he started yelling at Shane. 

“You stupid idiot. I explained that a thousand times to you. How can it be that you still don’t know how to do this?” 

He desperately wanted to shove Shane’s head into the paper. But of course his hand went right through Shane. Lion turned around and threw his hands in the air, and just in that moment Malina entered the room. He immediately turned his hearing off. He thought about going into the kitchen or something but he couldn’t bring himself to leave. So maybe he was a masochist. 

At first everything seemed to be fine between Shane and Malina but after a few minutes Lion could tell that they were fighting. He had no idea about what and the moment he turned his hearing back on Malina yelled: “You are so very, very stupid”, and stormed out of the house. 

Lion couldn’t believe what he saw. Shane and Malina could not have broken up. Not possible. Because Lion sacrificed himself just for Shane’s happiness and even he couldn’t be stupid enough to scare away the perfect girl. 

He wasn’t, right? 

Lion felt a sharp pain. He wasn’t there anymore, Malina obviously had no use in this world and Shane was not happy. So what did he do all of this for? 

 

Since he couldn’t do anything anymore he started yelling at Shane but no matter how hard he tried Shane did not hear him. Lion felt so angry and desperate that he had to leave. 

Several hours later he came back. Shane sat on his bed and had a CD in his hand. Lion looked closer and saw that it was one of his. Now he realized that all his things, all the CDs and books he lend Shane, were scattered over the table. Lion couldn’t explain why only his things lay there but he had enough.

He couldn’t take this anymore. 

He kneeled before Shane, who was still staring at the CD and placed his hand carefully over Shane’s.

“You’re such an idiot”, he whispered. “I did everything for you, so you can be happy and now you can’t even keep your perfect girl?” 

Lion leaned his forehead on Shane’s hand. “I love you and I only wanted the best for you. Why can’t you accept that?” 

Shane looked confused but finally he shook his head and stood up. He walked right through Lion and threw the CD onto the table. 

 

The next day at school Shane and Malina talked with each other. Lion watched them and it seemed like it was a very serious talk. Malina did most of the talking and Shane first looked confused and then agitated. 

Over the weeks they kept his routine and Shane seemed to come around since he rarely shook his head anymore and listened carefully. 

Lion did not really pay attention anymore because he noticed a change with him. 

He finally started to fade away.

Not like before because when the others started to forget him, he was still able to see himself. But that changed now. Lion was able to see right through his hands. He wasn’t able to see himself in the mirror and he somehow started to move by thought. And he was able to finally stay away from Shane longer and longer without feeling anything. 

So he made a decision. Since it looked like Malina and Shane could get it to work he would only stay one more night. Just one. And then he would go away and to all the places he ever wanted to see. It still hurt to see them together so his plan was for the best. 

This night he lay for the first time next so Shane. Shane slept peacefully and Lion watched him the whole night. He wanted to be able to remember Shane’s face even though he was pretty sure he would never be able to forget him. 

 

Dawn finally came and with that Shane slowly woke up. 

Lion tried to shove a stray of hair out of his face but of course it did not work. Shane was still dizzy and since he couldn’t feel anything Lion did he got braver. 

Lion lowered his head and kissed Shane softly. 

And of course Shane did not notice. Lion sighed and got up. 

He realized that he couldn’t see himself anymore. It seemed like he had no body at all. But he could still see and hear, and obviously feel. He thought about his family and before he knew it he was at his home. 

Interesting.

So he could travel around the world easily now. At least being like this had his peaks. 

He traveled around and visited all the places he ever wanted to see. He went to Spain, Japan, Rome and Ireland. He was visiting Stonehenge when something changed again. 

The air around him began to stir and his vision faded. So that’s it, he thought. Finally. 

 

He wanted Shane’s face to be the last thing he saw so he closed his eyes and recalled that last night he spent with him. After all he did that for this very purpose.

He felt like he changed place and he heard someone inhale sharply. He cracked his eyes open and still saw Shane. He blinked but Shane was still there. 

Lion looked around. 

He was in Shane’s room and Malina was also there. Before he could ask what had happened Shane took a shaky step in his direction. 

“You told the truth”, he said. 

Lion looked at Malina. “Of course”, she said. 

Lion desperately tried to think of a place, any place, but he stayed where he was. He looked down and saw that he was standing inside a circle. Magic. They bound him with magic. 

“At least I know how I was created”, Malina continued. 

Lion had the feeling that something went wrong here. Again. Malina shouldn’t know this. And she definitely shouldn’t have told Shane. Speaking of him, Shane made another step in Lion’s direction. This time he was steadier. 

“You idiot! What the hell were you thinking?” he yelled. 

Lion took a step back. He refused to talk to him even though his heart was beating frantically at the thought that Shane remembered him. 

“What did you do?” he asked Malina instead and turned away from Shane. 

She just shrugged. “I was created to make him happy. That was the wish I was born from.” Lion nodded in agreement. “But I cannot do that”, she finally said. 

Lion’s heart stopped for a moment. This could not be. Shane had to be happy. 

He wanted to say something but Malina continued. “So I had to get the person who could.” 

His heart ached as he heard that but he turned her down. “You’re talking nonsense.” 

For the first time he turned to Shane. “You were happy. Even without me. So what is this about? What are you doing?” 

Shane violently shook his head. “I forgot about you. How could you let me forget you?” It sounded very much like Shane was deeply hurt and it almost sounded like an accusation. 

Lion refused to read more into Shane’s behaviour than the actual words. He could not do this. Not when he was about to disappear again. 

“It does not make a difference if you remember me or not. You have Malina. Everything was fine.” Lion could see that Shane got really angry now. 

“What were you thinking? Why would you think that with her everything was better? That I would be happier?” 

Lion was getting angry now, too. “’Cause I created her for that!” 

That left Shane speechless so Lion hurried on. “I created her exactly like you wanted her. Why couldn’t you just take her and be happy?” 

Shane’s eyes widened. He slowly turned to Malina. “Did you lie to me?” he asked her. 

Lion didn’t know what they were talking about. He just wanted to get out of there. 

“No”, Malina said, “he just doesn’t want to admit it.” She took a heavy breath. “It’s time. I can’t hold it any longer.” 

Shane nodded. “You still want to do this?” 

Malina looked at him, confused. “This is what I’m made for.” Shane inhaled deeply and took a step closer to Malina. He took her elbow and led her into the circle in which Lion stood. 

Who still didn’t understood a thing. “What’s going on here?” he asked. It felt like the hundredth time he asked that. 

Malina got closer to him and touched him lightly at his arm. The moment the contact was made, Malina began to disappear and Lion slowly got his solid from back. Finally Malina was gone and Lion felt like he did before he had started all this. Lion turned to Shane.

“What did you do? You could have been happy with her.” Shane walked over to the bed and sat down. 

“You don’t get it, do you?” He looked very serious and a bit sad. “Malina could never make me happy.” He hesitated for a second. “She is not you.” 

Lion heard what Shane said but he had a hard time understanding. It didn’t make sense. 

“She… is… not… What?” His heart raced and he let himself fall to the floor. 

“Lion, I don’t want Malina.” 

“But you described her exactly like that”, Lion whispered. He did not dare to believe what Shane was implying and he kept his eyes trained on the floor. “She was exactly like you wanted your girlfriend. Everything was like you said.” And there was the pain again as Lion remembered how she was nothing like him. 

Shane shook his head and got Lion’s attention back. “That’s not true. This was not what I wanted in a person.” He paused and struggled with his next words. “I just described something that had nothing to do with you.” He looked at Lion. “Do you understand? Do you get it?” Shane asked. 

Lion heard and now he also understood but he couldn’t believe it. He shook his head in disbelieve. 

“But in the beginning… you were getting along. It could have worked.” 

It pained Lion to say these things but he needed to confirm. 

Shane kneeled before him. “No, it would not have worked. Something was missing.” Lion couldn’t say any more. He still tried to get his head around everything but he still had a hard time believing Shane. 

He seemed to notice because he leaned forward. 

“You idiot”, he whispered, “you should have talked to me before you did something so drastic.” 

And then he kissed him.

First Lion didn’t know what happened but then he wrapped his arms around Shane’s neck. It was a soft and tender kiss and after a few moments they broke apart. 

Lion buried his head in Shane’s neck and wrapped his arms around Shane’s middle. Shane also wrapped his arms around Lion. 

He squeezed him. “Never do something extreme like this again. What would I do without you?” 

“What would I have done if you got a girlfriend?” Lion whispered in response.

“That would never have happened”, Shane said. 

“How was I supposed to know?” 

“Just a few more days and I would have gathered enough courage to tell you. But you had to rush everything and made me forget about you.” 

“But now you remember. So tell me now,” Lion said. He could feel Shane smile. 

“I love you”, he told Lion. Lion felt as happy as never before in his life. 

“I love you, too”, he told Shane. They looked at each other and then they kissed again.

 

A few weeks later

Lion woke up because Shane shot up next to him. 

“You kissed me”, he shouted at Lion.

Lion was still sleepy and didn’t understand what he meant. 

“Mh, yeah, I did. More than once,” he said and snuggled deeper into the sheets. 

“I mean you kissed me when you were invisible.” 

Lion froze. “You remember?” he asked and tried to hide under the blanket. “But that is all you remember, right”, he asked shyly. 

Shane started to nod but then he frowned. “Wait”, he said, “you”, and he pointed a finger directly at Lion’s face, “you were in the shower with me!” 

Lion blushed and tried to cover his face. Maybe he could just disappear again. 

“Just once”, he managed to whisper. He heard Shane laugh. 

“Well”, he said lascivious, “I think we have to change that.” And then he attacked Lion under the cover.


End file.
